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As summer nears, mosquitoes already on the mind in Boulder

City launching first major assessment of management program in 15 years

By Charlie Brennan

Staff Writer

Posted:
04/28/2018 12:00:00 PM MDT

Updated:
04/28/2018 04:56:49 PM MDT

Suzanne De Lucia in the open space area behind her home in Boulder s Greenbelt Meadow neighborhood. She says the mosquitoes from the area attack her at her relentlessly at her residence that backs up to the area. (Paul Aiken / Staff Photographer)

Mosquitoes have not yet begun to pose their seasonal challenges for Boulder County residents trying to enjoy the outdoors and avoid the risk of contracting the West Nile virus. But that doesn't mean the bugs aren't already on people's minds.

Boulder city staff earlier this month presented to City Council a report on the status of its mosquito management program, which this year will cost the city $257,566. The bottom line is that the city's program is getting its first major assessment in 15 years — but that recommendations for changes in the city's approach will not be ready for review until spring 2019.

"No changes in mosquito management will be made from previous years during the 2018 season," the report to council stated.

That's not soon enough for some Boulder residents — particularly those living in the Greenbelt Meadows neighborhood, which saw extremely high mosquito activity in 2017, including the Culex genus, which carries the West Nile virus .

The city acknowledges that throughout the region, it was a record-setting year for mosquito activity.

"We had a summer in 2008 where you got a bite if you spent a second outside. That was the worst ever," said Suzanne De Lucia, who lives on Mineola Court, just 100 yards or so from the banks of South Boulder Creek.

In an email to council, De Lucia — pleading for more immediate remedies — said that last summer she received "well over" 1,000 bites.

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"It was easily a thousand times," she said in an interview. "I mean, last summer, it was very localized and it was very bad. If you get a bite at noon, in the noonday sun, going from your house to your car, that is not tolerable. Other people get to actually go outside."

Boulder an exception

Rella Abernathy, Boulder's Integrated Pest Management coordinator and a significant contributor to the recent report to council, had seen De Lucia's email and has offered to meet with a Greenbelt Meadows neighborhood group -— an offer De Lucia was pleased to get and plans to accept.

Deb Grojean, a neighbor of Suzanne De Lucia in Boulder's Greenbelt Meadows neighborhood, shows some of the many mosquito bites she suffered in the summer of 2017. (Deb Grojean / Courtesy Photo)

"It's every year, and some years are worse than others," De Lucia said. "I've lived in the neighborhood since '88, and this is my third house in the neighborhood. I love the neighborhood. I love the location. I love the people.

"I just don't love the mosquitoes."

Boulder County reported just nine human cases of West Nile virus in 2017, according to Chana Goussetis, spokeswoman for the county Department of Public Health. Longmont registered the most, with four. Lafayette had two, while Boulder, Superior and Erie each registered one. The year before, there had been 23.

De Lucia doesn't necessarily set a lot of stock in those numbers.

"I myself got West Nile in 2013, but do not show up on any of the statistics," she wrote to the council. "I was part of the 20 percent which suffered from flu-like symptoms for 3 weeks, but did not seek medical care. The point is that the reported numbers are likely much lower than the true cases."

Mosquitoes have preferred environments — their larvae live in water, such as small containers in yards like old tires or tree hollows, or in wetlands — but they don't respect geographical boundaries. So, no jurisdiction's program exists in a vacuum. What one chooses to do can potentially affect another, as nuisance species mosquitoes can travel up to 25 miles.

Marshall Lipps, environmental health specialist for Boulder County, said the approach for managing mosquitoes in the unincorporated areas has not been substantially revamped for several years.

"Overall, the programs across the county are fairly similar, and we'd hope that they're complementary," he said. "The biggest difference would be the city of Boulder's program. All the other programs in the county have some form of adulticide program, whereas the city of Boulder does not. That's a big piece of their program, that they don't employ that."

Boulder County, Lipps said, also makes use of a citizen's advisory board, which meets up to 10 times a year.

"As issues arise through the group, those are items we can look at to either integrate into our program, or potential changes to make. We're always looking at what changes we may want to make," he said.

Abernathy explained Boulder's aversion to other communities' approach as it relates to spraying — typically with the synthetic pyrethroid class of insecticides, whose metabolites have been correlated with cognitive and behavioral issues in children, reproductive issues in males and more.

"The city avoids the use of broad-spectrum insecticides for control of adult mosquitoes," she confirmed.

"The city uses an ecological integrated pest management approach that is holistic and considers the pest within the context of the whole ecosystem. Focusing on killing one organism usually is not very effective and causes unintended impacts to non-target organisms."

The four Ds

In Longmont, which led the county in West Nile cases last year, Land Program Manager Dan Wolford said the city's approach to mosquitoes saw its last significant revisions in 2011, when it moved away from focusing simply on the number of mosquitoes turning up in traps, to more of a "vector control" philosophy.

"We monitor the presence of West Nile mosquitoes and we don't spray until there has been an identified presence in either Weld, Larimer or Boulder county," he said. "It's not just a quantity thing. It's more of a vector component, once we know West Nile virus is here. We're going to protect our community. That's been the real change."

Those in Wolford's position emphasize the complexity of the challenge mosquitoes pose, stemming from the fact that while a nuisance, they are also a critical part of the ecosystem, and that any tool brought to bear on their management must be considered for its impacts on other aspects of the environment.

"A lot of it comes down to personal responsibility. Each and every one of us has a personal responsibility," said Wolford, referring to the "four Ds" often stressed in discussions of the issue. "DEET, draining (of water where they might breed), and how you dress, and the time of day you are out; be aware of those kinds of things."

Abernathy stressed the same point, saying that it can be assumed that there will always be West Nile virus present throughout the region, that people therefore need to consistently use repellent and that there are several effective varieties on the market that work as well as DEET, should people want to avoid that product.

"The good news is that birds (the main host for West Nile virus) are developing immunity, as are people in Colorado," she said in an email. "The majority of mosquitoes are not infected, and even a majority of those bitten will not know they ever got it.

"All of those people exposed to it are thought to gain life-long immunity from WNv. Although the risk is low, about 1/150 people will get a severe form of the disease that is life-changing or fatal. Because you can get so sick from WNv, even though the risk is low, people need to avoid mosquito bites."

Colorado boasts 57 known varieties of mosquitoes, and — this will not come as a surprise — they're not going away.

"I think it is important for people to adjust their expectations for what's feasible, for lowering mosquito numbers," Abernathy said.

This graph shows that the number of adult mosquitoes trapped in the summer of 2017 in Boulder skyrocketed above the number averaged over 2009 to 2016. These numbers apply to the 16-trap surveillance grid used for the city's West Nile virus program. (Courtesy City of Boulder)

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